Years ago computers were huge and their accompanying printers were huge as well. Instead of ink cartridges like those used now, they had toner reservoirs and later toner cartridges. Filling a toner cartridge was not easy and it was messy. The toner cartridges were better. Some printers ran on print wheels and some used ribbons.
Now our computers are more compact and the printers do more than just print in some cases. Printers use cartridges with self-contained reservoirs. Some can be refilled and it isn't as messy as adding toner was.
There are two types of printer cartridges. Primarily Hewlett-Packard and Epson printers use the first, the Piezo Electric. A small crystal is subjected to an electric current that causes the crystal to expand about every 5 microseconds (20,000 per second. This expansion causes the inkjet ink to be squirted out through the print heads very rapidly and precisely. Piezo Electric has fewer print heads than bubble jet/thermal printers but can do more precise action and tend to last longer.
Bubble jet print cartridges heat the ink rapidly into a bubble and is squirted through ink nozzles thousands of times per second. Bubble jet printers are quieter than the Piezo based printers. It gives you extremely high resolution color printing.
Ink jet not megapixel method has the ink squirted through nozzles as they move over a variety of media. Liquid ink in various colors is squirted at the paper to create an image. The print head scans the page horizontally using a motor assembly that rolls the paper in vertical steps.
A strip of an image is printed, then the paper moves on ready for the next step. For speed, it doesn't just print a strip across the page; it prints vertical rows of pixels in each pass.
There are various types of inkjet technology. DOD or drop on demand squirts small drops of in ink onto the paper through tiny nozzles. It is like turning a hosepipe on and off 5,000 times per second. The amount of ink dropped on the page is controlled by the driver software that says which nozzles fire and when. A problem with ink jet technology is the tendency for the ink to smudge right after printing. This is improving with the development of new ink compositions.
Thermal Technology of printing fires the ink onto the paper. There are three stages in this process. In stage 1 the squirt is started when the ink is heated to create a bubble. Initial pressure bursts the bubble and hits the paper. The bubble breaks as the heating element cools. The vacuum that is created draws the ink from the reservoir to replace the ink that was ejected.
Printers' years ago used to be very expensive and the reason for this was because the print heads that would stamp the image on paper was within the printer. Ink and/or toner were added to a reservoir or the printer used ribbons to stamp the image on paper. Now printers are fairly cheap, the cost comes when you have to purchase the ink cartridges for it. One would think that it would almost be worth it to buy a new printer instead of the cartridges because the price of the cartridges is often more than some of the more basic ink jet printers available.
The current price of cartridges while currently expensive have some technology in them that is complex and actually over the long haul will end up being cheaper than it would be to replace print heads often. Print heads are now contained within the cartridges themselves. The exciting thing about that is you could have your printer for a very long time if you use the correct cartridges for your printer.
Color cartridges work the same as black cartridges by squirting the ink through tiny nozzles onto the paper in horizontal strips as the cartridges move back and forth across the page. The color cartridge however, has three reservoirs with cyan, magenta, and yellow ink, each in a separate reservoir.
The image quality can depend on a number of things. Paper quality can affect the image you get. Brightness and absorption of the ink are the two main things that affect image quality. Brightness is exactly how bright the color or print image is while absorption is how effectively the paper absorbs the ink. For inkjet printers it is best to use paper made specifically for inkjet printers. You will get the best possible image with the proper paper. Also check the settings of your printer and/or your display properties, these things can also affect your printing project.
Depending on the paper you use and your printer, you may want to leave your documents alone for a little while so the ink can dry. Some printers have an ink saver setting that will put out less ink, which will dry faster, and still give you a near perfect image. Get to know your printer and how it works.
(c) www.best-price-printer-cartridges.com Reprint Rights feel free to publish this article on your website but you must agree to leave all active links contained within 'About The Author' intact and "as is" and NOT hidden behind a java or redirect script.
About the Author
Martin Smith is a successful freelance writer providing advice for consumers on purchasing a variety of Printer ink cartridges which includes Cheap ink cartridge
When purchasing a flat panel TV, there are a few... Read More
A cheap ink cartridge is sometimes the only way that... Read More
If you are running out of space on your computer... Read More
This is the step takes the most time and consideration.... Read More
Rear Projection Television - An Affordable OptionA great deal of... Read More
Laptops are lovely. They are convenient, mobile, powerful and prestigious.... Read More
Have you ever encountered before the problem of having multiple... Read More
You are working at your computer and trying to print... Read More
When bought personal DVD player, the very next thing to... Read More
Computers often break down at the worst of all times.... Read More
Here's how to format a hard drive (Legal Stuff: We... Read More
You will have many factors to consider when deciding on... Read More
We live in an area that has begun to... Read More
Current sense resistor is usually located in the switch mode... Read More
OK I confess I've bought at least 10 inkjet printers... Read More
There are many different names for these drives, just so... Read More
Get ready everyone, home computers are about to set new... Read More
Laser toner is the ink for laser printers. It is... Read More
We all know what it is like when that message... Read More
Interestingly, ergonomics though sounds to be a modern and trendy... Read More
Someone recently asked me "I teach senior citizens in a... Read More
DVD CD ROMs have become predominantly the most used CD... Read More
Just about everyone would I agree, I think, that wires... Read More
Whether you are crunching figures at a front office job... Read More
The Pocket DVD Wizard allows you to make backup copies... Read More
I came across quite a number of questions about electronic... Read More
Hard Drives: ATA versus SATAThe performance of computer systems has... Read More
Nvidia has done it again, with it's newest video card,... Read More
Dell offers a full line of refurbished laptops on their... Read More
The USB standard has become the universal means of connection... Read More
PC cooling systems are one of the hottest - and... Read More
Picking your way through the ton of information available on... Read More
Notebook computers are becoming very popular. They seem to be... Read More
You just poured hours upon hours into a lengthy research... Read More
You are working at your computer and trying to print... Read More
An Optical MouseNotebooks are normally equipped with touch pads which... Read More
Most HP and Epson printers are drop on demand printers.... Read More
DVD is an optical disc storage media format that can... Read More
RAID is short for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive)... Read More
Laser toner refills can be expensive. Over the life of... Read More
The quick answer is...yes and no.Consider this. How many printer... Read More
The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron is a... Read More
A recent Tech Tip covered the basics of selecting a... Read More
When buying a new computer, or upgrading your monitor, you... Read More
All in one printers, also known as multifunction printers (MFPs),... Read More
One of the bigger challenges facing display manufacturers is to... Read More
Interestingly, ergonomics though sounds to be a modern and trendy... Read More
If you are tight on budget, go for Inkjet Printer.... Read More
Expansion Cards Part 2: AGPThe first in this series of... Read More
A couple of the recent Tech Tips from www.geeks.com have... Read More
Many small businesses have considered connecting computers and other devices... Read More
We all know what it is like when that message... Read More
We've all been there. You're in the middle of printing... Read More
Dell offers a full line of refurbished laptops on their... Read More
Testing diodes is different from testing a resistor because you... Read More
To upgrade or not? That is the question. At least,... Read More
Plug and play equipment or hardware solves the problem of... Read More
Small Can Be BeautifulWhen purchasing a new computer, you may... Read More
Flash your ATI video card BIOS.You will need the following:1.... Read More
Thinking about getting a new computer, but with all the... Read More
We all know that computers change more then any other... Read More
Wireless Consulting and Solution Providers have always been important to... Read More
It is true. You can save a lot of time... Read More
Forget about emptying your wallets every time you see the... Read More
When you're studying for your CCNA exams, you're going to... Read More
High density digital versatile disc is a digital optical media... Read More
Computer Hardware |